vayasseue



4 Sheets-Sheet 1.-

(No Model.)

J. VAVASSEUR.

m ommmun.

No. 273,199. Patented Feb. 27, 1883.

(No Model.)

I J. .VAVASSEUR...

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

(no Model.) 1

J. VAVASSEUR.

GUN CARRIAGE.

No. 273,199. Patented Feb.27,1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT ()EFICE.

JOSIAH vAvAssEUe, or BEAR LANE, SOUTHWARK, cous'rr or SURREY,

ENGLAND.

GUN-CARRIAGE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 273,199, dated February27, 1883.

Application filed January 3, 1883.. (No model.) Patented in'EnglandOctober 1 3, 1882, No. 4,876, and in France December 9, 1882, No.140,284.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSIAH VAVASSEUR, a. subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, and residing at Bear Lane, South wark, in the county 5ofSurrey, Eugland,-have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGun-Carriages, (for which I have received'Letters Patent in GreatBritain, No. 4,876, dated October 13, 1852, and in France, No.140,284,dated Decemher 9, 1882,) of whichthe following is aspecification.

.In mounting guns which are required to be fired from either side orfrom any intermediate point-between the sides of a ship, I employ a :5centralpivot mounting, the whole of which can be traversed by means ofgear carried on the mounting in a straight orcnrved line alongrack-racers luid across the ships deck from port to starboard. Thebase-plate of the moun tiug I form with hook-clips on its under side tofitintocorrespondiugly-shaped grooves formed in the rack-racers alongeach side of the rack. Preferably the base-plate is rectangular, and ithas a short cylindrical projection standing up from its center. A ringdescending from the center of the pivoting-bed fits around the exteriorof this cylindrical projection, which so forms the pivot for thepivoting-bed. Rollers on the under side of the'pivoting-bed may also 0run on a circular track formed on the baseplate concentric with thepivot. This circular track or roller path has a projecting lip on theoutside, under which pass hook-clips attached to the under side ofpivoting-bed. When the 5 gun is fired these hook-clips prevent thepivoting-bed and slide from lifting orjumping up during the recoil ofthe gun. To the upper side of the pivoting-bed are attached the sides orcheeks ot' the slide upon which the carriage 40 carrying the gun slidesto and fro. A vertical spindle is mounted in bearings carried at thecenter of the top of the cylindrical projcdtionof the base-plate, aroundwhich the pivotingbed turns, Its lower end carries a worm gearing With atoothed worm-wheel. This toothed wheel gears with the rack-racer laidacross or along the deck. If a semicircular rack-racer is used with thetwo ends of the rack-racer bothou one side of'the vessel, the gun can bemoved not only to either sideof the vessel, but 0 can also be brought toeither end of the rackracer, and so to either one or other of twopositions on that side of the vessel. On the top of the spindle isatoothed wheel, by which it can be driven. Preferably I gear with itpinions which are fast on spindles on either side of the carriage, andwhich turn in bearings carried by the uprightplates forming the sides orchecks of the slide. These spindles can be driven by gearing turned bycrank-handles, 6b and themouuting can thus be moved along therack-racer. To turn the pivoting-bedand to train the gun, a Worm on ahorizontal axis carried by the pivoting-bed is made to gear with a ringof teeth around the circumference of the cylindrical projection of thebase-plate around which the carriage pivots. By means of gearing drivenby crank-handles the worm can be turned and the pivoting-bed and guntrained. By coupling this gear byintermedi- 7o ate Wheels with the gearfortraversing, all four handles could be used both for training andtraversing; or,ifeither the trainingor traversing gear is disconnected,all four crank-hendles could be used for effecting either the one orother operation. Thus training and traversing can go on eithersimultaneously or separately, and all four winch-handles can be usedconjoiutly for both operations or for each operation. The base-plateofthe mounting is provided with rollers upon which it runs when beingtraversed along the rack. When the mounting arrives at its firingposition at either end of the rack it is no longer supported by therollers, and clips attached to the ships side or 8 to the deck hold downthe mounting and keep it from rising. The mounting is also preventedfrom then moving along therack by drop bolts. Figure l of the drawingsannexed is a plan view, showing how a gun mounted as above described canbe tired from either one or other side of the vessel. Figs. 2 and 3 arelongitudinal and cross vertical sections on a larger scale of the gunand gun-carriage. Fig. 4 is 'fitting into correspondingly-shaped groovesA, formed along each side of the rack A.

F is the short cylindrical projection standing up from the center of thebase-plate D.

G is the pivoting-bed, with a ring, G, de-

scending from it, and embracing-the cylindri cal projection F, whichthereby forms its pivot.

H H are four rollers mounted on the under side of the pivoting-bed. Theyrun on the circular track I, formed upon the top of the baseplate J),concentrically with the cylindrical projection F.

1 is a projecting lip at the outer edge of the circular track I. Booksat the two ends of the pivoting-bed G pass under this projecting. lip,

and keep the pivoting-bed and gun-slide from.

tilting or jumping when the gun is fired.

J is a vertical spindle, mounted in bearings carried by the center ofthe cylindrical projec-. tion 1*. Its lower end carries a worm, K, andon its upper end is fixed a bevel-toothed wheel, L. The worm K gearswith a toothed wheel, M,.which can turn upon a pin carried by apair ofarms, D, on the under side of the base-plate ii). The toothed wheel Mgears with the rack A, and when caused to turn travels along the rack,and carries along with it the base-plate and other parts of thegun-mounting. The toothed wheel L may be driven by any suitablearrangement of gearing. In the draw-' ings it is shown to have gearinginto it on two opposite sides bevel-toothed pinions N, carried on axesN, on each of which is also a toothed wheel, 0, intowhich gears apinion, P, which can be turned by a crank-handle, Q, so that by turningthese handles the gunmounting can be traversed along the rack in eitherdirection.

R is a circular toothed rack surrounding the exterior of the cylindricalprojection I S is a worm gearing into this toothed rack, and carried byan axis, T, mounted in bearings carried by-the pivoting-bed. The axiscan be driven by'any suitable arrangement of gearing. In the drawings itis shown to have on either end of it a toothed wheel, U, into whichgears a toothed wheel, V, which can be driven. by a pinion, W, turned bya crank-handle. \Vhen the axis T is turned by this gear, thepivoting-bed will be trained in one or otherdirection as described. Theaxis of the pinions and toothed wheels N O P and axis of the pinions andtoothed wheels U V -W are carried by the side plates, X, which rise upfrom either side of the pivoting-bed, and which form the sides or checksof the slide upon which the carriage carrying the gun slides to and fro.

This carriage I prefer to be of such a'construction and provided withcompressors of such power that the recoil of the gun may be limited to alength of, say, not more than three times the bore of the gun. Suchcompressors are described in the application for a patent lodged by meJanuary 3, 1883, Serial No. 80,869.

As before stated, the gear-wheels 0 and V on each side of thepivoting-bod might be geared together, whenever desired, by toothedgear-wheels Y, carried by the studs on the side plates, X, and which canhe slid upon their studs,-so as to put them into or. out of gear, asrequired. In this case provision would also be made for clutching orunclutching the toothed wheel 0 to its axis .LT, and also for clutchingor unclutching the toothed wheel U to its axis T. In this way all fourcrank-handles can be used, either for traversing-or training, or forboth traversing and training simultaneously, if desired.

\Vhen the gun and mounting have been traversed or transported to theposition from which it is desired to fire the gun, the mounting islocked in this position by drop bolts Z When the mounting is so lockedin firing position, its base-plate may be allowed to rest on the deck ofthe ship, and the transportingrollers D so be relieved of the weight ofthe mounting. This may be effected by forming inclines in theroller-path B, upon which the rollers D run. The end of the base-platealso may be made to come under projecting lugs Z, which serve to hold itdown,and prevent it from lifting orjumping to an injurious extent whenthe gun is firt d.

Z is a shield for protecting the guns crew against the tire ofsmall-arms and'ot' small 1nachine-guns.

Having thus described my invention, I would have 'it understood-that Iclaim- 1. The combination of the gun-mounting base-plate D, carrying thetoothed wheel M, the straight or curved fixed rack-racer A, into whichthe toothed-wheel M gears, the pivoting-bed Gr, capable of being turnedaround the vertical pivot F, which stands up from the top of thebase-plateD, and the vertical 'spindle J, which passes down through thecenter of the pivot F, and from which motion is transmitted to thetoothed wheel M, substantially as hereinbefore described.

2. The combination of the'base-plate D, the circular pivot F, thepivoting-bed G, and gear for turning the pivoting-bed around thebaseplate, the vertical axis J, passing down through the center ofthecentral pivot, and gear for driving this axis from its upper end, andworm K on its lower end, gearing with the wormwheel M, carried by thebase-plate, and which ing on each side of the pivoting-bed for driv- 1ogears with a rack, A, along which the baseing'the worm S, substantiallyas hereiubefore plate is caused to travel when wheel M is described.turued,substantiallyashercinbefore described.

3. The combination of the base-plate D, the JOSIAH VAVASbEUR' circularpivot F, the pivoting-bed G, the Witnesses: toothed rack R around thepivoting-bed, the E. DONN, worm S, gearing with the toothed rack, and O.E. WALLIS,

carried by the pivoting-bed, and toothed gear- Both of Bear Lane,Southwark, London.

